Highly stretchable, self-healable and self-adhesive polyzwitterion ionogels enabled with binary noncovalent interactions

Developing polyzwitterion ionogels with large stretchability, self-healability, and self-adhesion is crucial for ionic conductors in human-motion detection, while it is rarely realized in a single material. Here, a poly(zwitterion-acrylic acid) copolymer ionogel (PCIG) is fabricated by photopolymerization, among which solvated ionic liquids are tightly locked within a polyzwitterion matrix through binary hydrogen-bonded and electrostatic interactions. The PCIG exhibits a considerable stretchability of >850%, excellent fatigue resistance for 4000 cycles, and self-healability with a healing efficiency of >78%. The PCIG also shows a >80% high transparency, wide temperature tolerance, and excellent self-adhesion with various substrates. As a result, the PCIG can be used as a stretchable ionic conductor in wearable strain sensors, showing excellent sensing performance in real-time detection of human physiological movements. The study indicates that the developed polyzwitterion ionogels with attractive characteristics are an ideal candidate for wearable strain sensors that could tolerate wide temperatures and harsh environments. • Polyzwitterion ionogel is synthesized by one-step photopolymerization. • Ionogel shows high stretchability, self-healability and wide temperature tolerance. • Ionogel exhibits multiple self-adhesive performances on various substrates. • Ionogel demonstrates high stability upon cutting and self-healing process. • Ionic sensor shows high sensitivity and linear dependence in a wide strain range.